Lost River (DVD): Review

Film

Lost River, a surreal tale of love and family, a story about fighting for survival, and facing danger. Living in the derelict city of Lost River, Billy (Christina Hendricks) is a single mom, trying to look out for her two sons. However, she is part of a secret underworld, full of the nightmarish, macabre fantasies of others. Trying desperately to save their home and family.

With a large part of the city now submerged under water, and forgotten by all except a few, the interest of Bones is now piqued.

Lost River has a surreal feel to it. An almost detached way about it, from the silent streets of the derelict town, to the horrors of Billy’s underworld life. There is a sense of dread, and a feeling that time has passed the entire area by. This serves to mirror in the viewer, the urgency and anxiety of Billy and Bones, the need to escape, and the mystery of what may lie around the next corner, always moving, always wondering.

Ryan Gosling does a superb job of direction, coupled with cinematography that draws the viewer not only into the story, but positions them in a manner that feels part of the action, this is sure to thrill those who enjoy an existence just a little different to the every day world.

An interesting piece, that while not for everyone, is certainly going to appeal those an audience with a penchant for the darker side, where family triumphs, and each person’s individual strength serves the family whole, in order to overcome.

Disc And Bonus Features

The disc, like almost all these days, is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen, even when scaled up to a higher resolution. Those with the necessary hardware can do likewise, or make use of a larger screen or projector.

Sound is presented in the form of a 5.1 soundtrack, however due to the nature of the feature, there is not a large use of the surround channels. The audio is crisp.

Navigation is really basic, with static menus, however these are functional.

There are no bonus features on the disc, save for some trailers at the beginning.

Published by Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB, Andrew has worked full time in the film industry since the early 2000's. He has trained as an actor, completing his LAMDA Gold Medal, and attending many courses in Cape Town acting studios, with masterclasses with some of the international industries top directors, producers and filmmakers.
Working as an actor and armourer in the film and television industry have given Andrew a great balance of skills across the board when it comes to the entertainment industry.
Catch him on Twitter: twitter.com/andrewgerm_za
And IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm5390453/
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